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South African university removes statue of colonial figure
Hassen Seria
Press TV, Capetown
This was one is the first to go. It’s the statue of British colonist Cecil John Rhodes, who not only occupied land here but also named modern Zimbabwe after himself in the form of Rhodesia.
A vocal campaign by students in local weeks led to the removal of the effigy. But whether the university did it out of conviction or concern for its image remains a question.
Even during the campaign to have what students said was a symbol of oppression removed, there were those who wanted Rhodes to remain. But activists believe the British settler represented no good.
The fact that this statue was brought down 21 years into democracy has cast the spotlight on transformation and whether post-Apartheid South Africa has truly shed its colonial yoke.
The removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes here at the University of Cape Town has sparked a debate and discussion nationally about other symbols of both the Apartheid and colonial past in this country. The hope is that that discussion will lead to the erasing of the colonial legacy.
Hassen Seria
Press TV, Capetown
This was one is the first to go. It’s the statue of British colonist Cecil John Rhodes, who not only occupied land here but also named modern Zimbabwe after himself in the form of Rhodesia.
A vocal campaign by students in local weeks led to the removal of the effigy. But whether the university did it out of conviction or concern for its image remains a question.
Even during the campaign to have what students said was a symbol of oppression removed, there were those who wanted Rhodes to remain. But activists believe the British settler represented no good.
The fact that this statue was brought down 21 years into democracy has cast the spotlight on transformation and whether post-Apartheid South Africa has truly shed its colonial yoke.
The removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes here at the University of Cape Town has sparked a debate and discussion nationally about other symbols of both the Apartheid and colonial past in this country. The hope is that that discussion will lead to the erasing of the colonial legacy.
